Public Statements

King Challenges ICE Director

Press Release

Congressman Steve King released the following video of his questioning of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton today during a Judiciary Committee hearing. Congressman King grilled Director Morton about the Obama administration's release of over 2,000 illegal aliens.

Congressman King: "When you looked at your options, of releasing these 2,228 into the street, of which 629 are criminals, what was the rationale? If you needed to free up your budget, why didn't you just go ahead, those who were adjudicated with deportation, remove them? Or accelerate that process so you could remove them and relieve your budget in that fashion? Release people into the streets of their home country rather than into the streets of our home country?"

Director Morton: "We're doing everything we can to remove people. So I don't believe there were any removal cases that were ready to go that we delayed on."

Congressman King: "Why didn't you accelerate that as another option rather than releasing people into the streets?"

Director Morton: "We go as fast as we can. I'm not aware of any power that we had to accelerate."